Hour 3: Desmond Howard Rips Arch Manning, AFC East Predictions & actor Dylan O’Brien

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1:19and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Manning pivots to throw. Intercepted by Ohio State. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

1:35Rich Eisen:The whole arch thing, let's just pump the brakes here. Earlier on the show, comedian Bill Burr, Academy Award winner Spike Lee. Still to come, ESPN College Game Day analyst Desmond Howard, actor Dylan O 'Brien. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. Disney Plus ESPN app everywhere for those who want to look at us. And I appreciate you looking at us because we're handsome. 844-204-H number to dial whether you're watching us, streaming us, or listening to us on Sirius XM Channel 80 or on this Rich Eisen show terrestrial radio affiliate smart enough to have us on espn radio presented by progressive insurance already had spike lee already had bill burr in studio just had a nice chat uh in our green room with dylan o 'brien who's a diehard jet fan uh he's going to come out here shortly um in advance of his theaters nationwide this very friday film called twinless um and that has nothing to do with the Jets offensive line that has suffered a major injury, apparently, because that's what happens to the Jets in a practice with Elijah Veritaker mere days before opening the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

2:55Rich Eisen:But we'll talk about that with Dylan O 'Brien. As you know, I say this every single time, this man makes me smile. Very few people have made me as happy in life as Desmond Howard, and the fact that we're now one big happy Disney family means Desmond has to be on this show right away and it's great to see you Desmond Howard how are you oh rich I tell you you make me smile you make me happy too man and it's great to be on your show and welcome back my friend welcome back I thank you sir for that and it's it's a pleasure and an honor well what is it like to be an Ohio native who went to the University of Michigan and is now showing up and showing out on college game day in a time where there has been wait a minute one two, three, is it four wins in a row against Ohio State?

3:41Rich Eisen:And all the Buckeye fans, they love you, man. Buckeye fans love you, Desmond Howard. They think you should be on TV talking football all the time. How does it feel to be you is basically what I'm saying. You know, we like to say in NAR, but it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. So, yeah, that's how I feel about being me. It's great to be me. You know, those fans, they're, hey, they do what they do. They do what they're supposed to do because of the success that I had when I was in Ann Arbor against the Buckeyes. And they have long memories. Plus, you also say the truth.

4:25Rich Eisen:And if I'm not mistaken, you were the only one on the panel in North Carolina at the Belichick Palooza to say TCU is going to win this football game. and boy, boy, did they ever. What challenges does North Carolina football face despite having one of the greatest coaches to ever put on a headset? Like, what did you see in person that might give an idea of where do we go from here with Bill Belichick's Carolina team? Yeah, I'll tell you what, you know, they have to get tougher in the trenches. We can start there. I was talking to some TCU coaches on the sideline and they thought that they had a distinct advantage in the trenches.

5:07They thought they would be able to control the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively, which is what they did. And Josh Hoover, their quarterback. He's good. Huh? He's good. Really, really good. Yeah. He's probably the number two quarterback in the Big 12, only second to Sam Levitt of Arizona State. So, yeah, he's really good. And I think so physicality, you know, first and foremost, they've got to become a little more physical, a little tougher up front. Gio Lopez, the quarterback, he just seemed very limited as a passer after that first drive. What I think happened, Rich, is most coaches, especially like these offensive coordinators, when they're breaking in a new quarterback, a new system, they like to script the first 12 to 15 plays, and they drill the hell out of those plays, especially game week.

6:02And I think that's what we saw with that first drive with UNC. I mean, they just sliced through that TCU defense like a hot knife through butter. And it looked like a well-oiled machine. But then after that, they hit a wall. And I think that that's when TCU just started to just, you know, buckle down a little bit, toughen up up front. And at the same time, you put North Carolina in a situation offensively where now you have to really call the game as opposed to just going by the script that you started the game with.

6:38Rich Eisen:No, I think, again, if North Carolina continues to struggle, and the same thing would say Alabama, those two are kind of being viewed, in my estimation, as the canary in the coal mine about 21st century college football, that it doesn't matter if you've got an all-time great coach in North Carolina or a program that Forrest Gump used to play for and Nick Saban used to coach. It doesn't matter, right? It just doesn't matter anymore if kids show up. It's about the money on the table and, of course, facilities and opportunity to make the NFL, which I know, again, Belichick would definitely be somebody that you'd want to play for in that regard.

7:15Rich Eisen:But I'm just wondering what you think about that philosophy or at least that mindset that this is, in fact, an idea of where the sport is going in the 21st century. Desmond? Yeah, I mean, you know, it's changing. Like, we're watching it in real time change right in front of our eyes. It's amazing, too, because we never thought we would see the day where these kids would not only make money, but make the type of money that they're starting to make, which is, you know, insane. And coaches, too, though. I mean, I just don't talk about the players. I think that these coaches salaries are starting to become astronomical to the point, Rich, where you can't even fire a coach because his buyout is so much.

7:57I mean, what type of business model is that? How's that? So I think we're going through a period that it seems unsustainable. Like, I just don't think these numbers are sustainable for a long period of time. But you look at these players and they're like you said, they're chasing the bag. They're chasing the money. I do think that because of Bill Belichick's M.O. and who he is as a person who not only can he spot untapped potential in players, but he also can extract all of that talent out of guys. He does a really good job developing players too. So, you know, they got their nose bloody in the first one, but his MO is developing players and getting the most out of them.

8:45And I still do have a lot of confidence and faith that he'll be able to do that. It's just not going to be the flip the switch, change things overnight job that people anticipated because he came to Chapel Hill with six Super Bowl rings. It's not that easy. It may take two or three years for him to get the program to where he wants it to be. So they're going to have to be patient.

9:06Rich Eisen:Desmond Howard here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about Arch Manning. Your opinion of his start at the at the shoe is what? It was predictable. I went on Stephen A. Smith's show the Friday before the Ohio State game. And I went on first take and I was telling them that I thought that the all of the hype and Heisman talk around him was unwarranted. I said that unless he was a guy who was on stage last year at the Heisman ceremony as a legitimate finalist, he doesn't warrant having his name mentioned in the same breath as that trophy. If you think he's, you know, somewhat a quarterback who's going to have a successful career or a successful season, why don't you start talking about the Davey O 'Brien award or the John the United's Award, you know, whatever those quarterback awards, but not the best football player in the country.

10:03And I also said that he was a guy who, he didn't jump out at me on tape. I mean, he had moments and they're going to show those big moments on SportsCenter. But if you really watch the tape, you know, there was nothing consistent that made you think he was the best football player, college football. And now he goes to Columbus, right, Rich? This is the beautiful part about all of this. People don't want to really criticize him as partially because he is a Manning. And they want to stay in good favor with the Mannings, right? This is a big name in our sport. But so what they do is they make it seem like Patricia, Matt Patricia, the defensive coordinator for Ohio State just called this brilliant game that kept Steve Sarkeesian and Arch Manning off balance for four whole quarters.

10:58Now, Matt Patricia did call a very good game. There's no doubt about that. But I saw guys on SportsCenter and other shows pulling like three plays and showing how he may have confused Arch Manning with the look or a secondary switch at the last minute and I'm watching the film and I can show you 10 to 12 plays where guys were running wide open and he just didn't hit them with the ball or he didn't see these guys and it wasn't that complex or that complicated so he he struggled the way I thought he would struggle because you know even though he's been in the system for three years you look He's never really played in these meaningful games.

11:42So the hype was just blown way out of proportion for Arch Manning.

11:46Rich Eisen:Man, what an opinion right there, Desmond. So what do you see for Arch going forward? An upward progression starts to win some games. There's a big game against Florida, Georgia coming. Like that's go to the college football playoffs. and is that what you see here moving forward? Maybe not at the podium in Manhattan. We know one thing. We know one thing. Me and you, we know one thing. In order to go in Columbus and beat Ohio State, first and foremost, you have to be tough. That's what it takes to beat Ohio State. You're going to have to be tough. When they got the ball in the red zone inside the five-yard line and they couldn't punch it in, And I can't put that on Arch.

12:37That showed me that at that point, they're not tough enough to go on the road and be the team, the quality of Ohio State. Now, moving forward, you said what's going to happen. Any analyst who talks about Arch Manning, they always wraps it up with, yeah, but he's going to be fine. He's going to be OK. But in this sport, with that name, being fine just doesn't cut it. Being OK just doesn't cut it. That's not what they're known for. that's not what he's in Texas for to be fine or be okay so I do think obviously like all these other teams it's their first game will they get better as a team of course they will, they should but you knew you were playing Ohio State the first game of the season Ohio State knocked you out of college football playoff a year ago you would think that you would be better or more prepared for this game than any game going into the season simply because of those factors So it was kind of disappointing really to see such a lackluster performance from them.

13:40And I think that what you'll see now, Rich, is that they'll go up against inferior opponents, opponents who don't have the roster that they have. And Archer put up some numbers. He'll have some nice throws. He'll have some incredible runs. And then people will be, you know, saying how great he is again. but they may struggle in the SEC going up against some of these tough teams if he doesn't get it together soon.

14:06Rich Eisen:Desmond Howard, Heisman Trophy winner, Super Bowl MVP, college game day right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Most impressive win from last weekend then. Miami, LSU, Ohio State. What do you have? Am I missing anybody? You're missing Florida State, my friend. Ooh-wee. Beating Alabama, okay. Ooh-wee, yeah. Yeah, and what made that one so impressive, Rich, is because, hey, we knew that Tommy Castellanos, the quarterback who transferred from Boston College, he came out and said, Nick Saban ain't there to save them. I mean, that's just bulletin board material. And then he doubled down and didn't back off of it and said, listen, my coaches, my players, we all believe in each other and we know what we have here.

14:49I'm going to tell you what people forget, Rich, they forget that, first of all, Mike Norvell, despite what happened a year ago, 2-10, I get it. Mike Norvell is a hell of a coach. He can coach football. And then he brought in Gus Malzahn. Gus Malzahn, he's a great, great offensive coordinator. Like, he can call plays with the best of them. And Tommy Castellanos has said that Malzahn is a guy who now just seems like he has, like, all this weight off of his shoulders, and he's out there having fun. He's in his bag. He's he's enjoying being an offensive play caller. And so that was one of the great the biggest factors to me in that game Saturday.

15:34In that game. Saturday, Sunday, Sunday. Yeah, that game Sunday when they beat Alabama, because you saw Gus Marzahn. He was in his bag. And those kids, the defense to defense flying around. That was a very, very impressive victory.

15:50Rich Eisen:Yeah, it'll be a shock when people try to put Alabama in over Florida State in a few months anyway. We'll see how that works, Dez. I got two more for you. I got two more for you. One for me and then one for the rest of the United States. Or one for us. Bryce Underwood, man. Some of those throws that were coming out of his hand. I said I've never seen a quarterback play for Michigan with an arm like that. You played with Elvis, right? obviously Chad Henney had had quite quite quite the arm I've never seen anything like this and the moment for me where I knew this was different was a third and 14 Michigan had coughed up a 17 point lead it's now just seven two plus minutes before half and they don't just hand it off and say we'll play defense and hope for the best they let the kid rip it and it was a 39 yard game that wound up with a touchdown drive and I'm like I turn to my 14 year old son who am I watching buddy cooper i'm like all right this is not this is not normal this is different and i'm wondering what you think desmond i agree with you i had my watch buddies with me um big twin and little twin we were actually there on the sideline watching the game okay and we thought the same exact thing and i said wow it's it's it's refreshing to see that they have that type of confidence and that young man in his first collegiate game that they're not going to just have him turn to his right or turn to his left and hand the ball off.

17:18Like they let him go out there and play football, make some throws, make some big throws too. And so it was, it was nice to see. And I mean, he's a, he's very, very talented quarterback, but he's just a guy who I believe has that, that it factor. His teammates, they all love him. You know, he seemed very poised and he ran things at a very efficient level. He never came across as though he was flustered out there or anything like that. He seemed like he was kind of like a seasoned vet. Would you have to give credit to the coaching staff? I mean, especially the offensive coaching staff, because they consistently put him in a position to succeed, and they made sure that he was comfortable, and they helped to, I think, make sure his confidence was starting to build as the game progressed.

18:12And that's what you want to do with these young quarterbacks. You want to start them off slow, but make sure you're putting in plays that can help build their confidence as the game progresses.

18:22Rich Eisen:Yeah, I can't go slow, though, Saturday, though. I mean, that's the game of the week. It's on ESPN Saturday night, Michigan at Oklahoma. What's your opinion on that, Des? Yeah, that one's going to be – it's going to be a good one. I'm excited about that to see how this defense responds to Mater, the quarterback, the transfer from Washington State, who's now in Norman, Oklahoma. Matera's probably the number one dual quarterback, I mean dual threat quarterback in the portal this past offseason. So he brings like a lot to their offense. And obviously Brent Venables, you know, he's a defensive-minded coach.

18:58So he's really going to try to get in the head of Bryce Underwood and this offense and see how he can affect the offense. I think that Michigan's going to have to be stout in the trenches. They're going to have to be able to move the ball with the running game, and they're going to have to keep those guys off of Bryce Underwood. So it should be a really interesting game. I'm excited about it.

19:20Rich Eisen:Me too. Last one for you, Desmond. Normally when 90-year-olds trend on social media, it's not for being alive. And, you know, boy, is Lee Corso alive and well and awesome, and what a weekend it was trending. 100 ,000 people in Columbus. what a moment to have the famed Ohio State marching band with a spelling out Corso while Lee was putting on the headgear people going nuts the country crying at the same time it was incredible I'm getting goosebumps just even thinking about it what was it like being there Desmond what was that like getting goosebumps as you describe it my friend it was it was surreal it was very heartwarming it was a blessing just to be a part of the celebration of someone who we all you know we love and we admire so much because he's given so much of of himself to the sport and to to the fans so it was a it was a fitting tribute celebration to a man who I believe belongs on the Mount Rushmore of influential people in the sport of football I mean I put him up there with John Madden, you know, you know, Keith Jackson, and then you can pick a fourth guy.

20:39But to me, that's where Corso belongs because of the influence and the impact he's had on the sport of football. And I'm not just talking about college, but football, period. He belongs up there with the Giants. There's no doubt about that. And he's a guy who's taught me so much, not only, on camera but off camera too. I love that old man. Wrap him up in bubble wrap and protect him at all costs. He's a national treasure.

21:07Rich Eisen:He is perfectly put. You've got to reach out to him. Help if you need with your picks. Not like you needed it on Monday night with TCU but he went 6-6 in his final day on game day. 6-6 or 6. It was pretty cool man. Desmond you're awesome. Good to see you. Appreciate the time. Let's do this as often as you're willing right here on Disney Plus, ESPN and ESPN Radio. And go blue, sir. Good to see you. Go blue, my man. Thanks for having me. Right back at you. That's Desmond Howard right here on this program. Love that guy. ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance. Get renter's insurance to protect the things that make your place a home, including coverage for theft or damage.

21:47Rich Eisen:Visit Progressive.com. Let's take a break. When we come back, Dylan O 'Brien will be out of the green room and back here on our set. Jets win-loss game beckons.

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23:46Rich Eisen:Back on ESPN Radio here. This is true. Presented by Progressive Insurance. Dylan O 'Brien is here. We just showed a clip of Twinless that's in theaters nationwide this Friday, September 5th. And again, so this is about twins who have lost a sibling. Yeah. And then everything kind of goes a little bit haywire when they've met. Correct. Yeah. These two guys meet in a bereavement support group for twins who have lost their twin. I had no idea such a thing existed. It really does exist. Yeah. And they're called Twinless support groups. It's where the title came from. but yeah the story you know it's about grief it's about loneliness you know lost friendship there's so many things but it's a dark comedy so it doesn't sound as it's not as grim as I'm making it sound sure right and yeah I mean it's a really special film so everybody please you know tell everyone you can okay and go Friday everybody go there so if it's a dark comedy then screw it I'll just say it that's where Tiki goes because he's not in the Hall of Fame and Rondé is is there a support that is hilarious is that wrong it's pretty funny I can do it Dylan can't because again if we're talking dark comedy I just didn't know if there's a support group Dom DiMaggio goes there were they twins though?

25:04were they not twins? they're just brothers

25:07Rich Eisen:who played baseball are they twins? they're twins I thought about the twin athletes Yeah, there's not many of them. I mean, not twins, but Dan McGuire? Where does he go? Oh, his twins, the relief pictures. Oh, you mean Mark's brother. Siblings who weren't as good as the other one. You know what I'm saying? This is the sequel. Dan McGuire. Yeah. This is our sequel, right? This is the sequel. This is absurd. You know? We could keep going. This is like Gerald Wilkins. Are you Googling this? This is not the time I end. That's insane. Dominique's brother? Yeah. Don Swayze and Patrick Swayze. Frank Stallone, famously.